Walmart kicks off Black Friday a week early

November 19, 2013

Walmart will kick off a pre-Black Friday savings event in stores and online at 8 a.m. Friday, Nov. 22. The big box retailer is lowering prices on toys and electronics to match select Black Friday offers from Target, Toys “R” Us and Best Buy one week early.

Beginning Nov. 19, the retailer also extends its Christmas Ad Match to Walmart.com customers. Customers who purchase an item on Walmart.com, and find a lower price in a local brick and mortar competitor, can email christmasadmatch@walmart.com and receive the difference on a gift card. The same policy is in place for customers at Walmart stores for items purchased Nov. 1 through Dec. 24, excluding Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday.

"Black Friday is our Super Bowl and we plan to win," said Duncan Mac Naughton, chief merchandising and marketing officer, Walmart U.S. "With six fewer days from Thanksgiving to Christmas, the retail environment is more competitive than ever. Every opportunity to get a great deal, whether this weekend, on Thanksgiving Day or Black Friday weekend, matters for our customers. When it comes to price, we're going to deliver for them."

Solutions Spotlight

Retailers need to offer more options to deliver merchandise faster — especially if they want to compete with the narrow delivery windows that Amazon and other nimble online players continue to offer. Download this white paper from Chain Store Age and IBM to learn four ways to Improve fulfillment, increase efficiency—and drive sales.